Hundreds Rally in Support of Market Street Bike Lane
San Francisco is often depicted as a bastion of enlightened progressive hippie vegans on bicycles, or sometimes as a queer and glittering island, raft with Prius-driving smug self-righteous liberals who rapture in the smell of their own farts. If only that were true. All of us who live here know that the local reality is a bit more of a curious and complicated dichotomy.
Even though our city has produced some progressive public officials who have pioneered visionary policy, such as Tom Ammiano’s ground-breaking universal health care plan, Healthy San Francisco, and Mayor Newsom’s marriage equality leadership, we are still a somewhat flawed municipality. Our major daily newspapers range from embarrassingly conservative to rabidly right wing, many of our citizens are still homeless, and our city is desperate for infrastructure improvements, such as a sorely needed safe, interconnected bike network. Although San Francisco has fostered many effective transportation advocacy organizations, like the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, it is also home to the occasionally misguided SFMTA Board of Directors. The SF Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors recently voted unanimously to remove a crucial bike lane and concrete safety island from Market Street at Octavia; their decision was made without any public comment or input from related advocacy groups.
Hundreds of people rally to save a crucial bike lane in the heart of San Francisco
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The decision to remove this critical bike lane baffled not only me, but hundreds of my fellow citizens and elected public officials, who demonstrated Friday morning in opposition to the MTA’s proposed plan. At the rally I overheard many frustrated protesters questioning the MTA’s logic: “They say that they want to remove the bike lane because cars are still making illegal right turns and hitting bicyclists. That’s like saying if pedestrians are still being injured by automobiles we should remove the crosswalks. It makes no sense.”
Elected officials Bevan Dufty, Tom Ammiano, Mark Leno, David Campos and Ross Mirkarimi show their support at the SFBC’s rally to save the Market/Octavia bike lane
The rally was organized by the SFBC and was attended by hundreds of people, including State Senator Mark Leno, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, as well as Supervisors Bevan Dufty, Ross Mirkarimi and David Campos. “This would indeed be a step backwards,” said Senator Leno. “When I first heard about it I thought this is about as counter-intuitive as it comes. Automobile users are breaking the law by turning right so we’re going to penalize those who are legally using the bike lanes.”
Planning Department Proposes Real Safety Improvements
Even San Francisco’s own Planning Department disagrees with the MTA; they have recently unanimously approved the Upper Market Community Plan that will implement many positive transportation changes in the contested area. The SFBC is urging the city to implement the Planning Department proposal, which recommends sensible safety improvements such as planting trees, creating raised bike lanes, colored pavement, and an extension of the concrete safety barrier, not the removal of a vital bike lane. (Don’t city departments ever talk to each other before they unanimously approve their various conflicting plans?)
Ironically Superior Court Judge Peter Busch, who allowed the inane bike plan injunction, will decide on January 22nd if the bike lane will indeed be removed. For more information on what you can do to get involved, please contact the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition.
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